Ham-fisted journalism

The infallibility of the Internets was sadly disproved yet again when Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends” reported that Muslim children in a town in Maine were terrorized by a ham sandwich.

Reporters sited the town’s new “anti-ham response plan” and quoted an official as saying, “These children have got to learn that ham is not a toy.”

All well and good, but it turns out the story was a parody from a site called Associated Content, whose operators have subsequently had to go so far as to add this caveat to its posting: “EDITOR'S NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN ACTUAL NEWS STORY. IT IS A PARODY.” Nothing like explaining a joke to kill it.

To be fair, the Fox News geniuses do reference the Onion when discussing the story. “I hope we’re not being duped,” one co-host frets. “We’re not being duped,” another declares authoritatively.

Not to worry, guys: I’ve been taken in by wily, dubious reports in the past. Why, I remember when I used to believe that the Fox News Channel was a legitimate news source.